Steelers WR Plaxico Burress Says 2013 Offense is All About Running The Ball

The Pittsburgh Steelers running game finished 26th in the league last year in rushing yards per game with a 96.1 average and 28th overall in yards per rush with a 3.73 average. They addressed those problems during the offseason by drafting Michigan State running back Le\’Veon Bell in the second-round and made the commitment to youth on the offensive line, as it will be the youngest in the league by the time the regular season starts.

“I mean, this is Pittsburgh. We\’re going to run the football, that\’s what our offense is going to be about,\’\’ Burress told Corbett. “We\’re going to have to run the football. The Steelers and running the ball go hand in hand, like a ball and chain. Receivers are committed to helping run the ball, blocking downfield, not just catching the ball and worrying about scoring touchdowns.

“Everybody else around the league is going to be going up-tempo, flashy, four- and five-wide, pistol, shotgun, spread passing. We\’re going to stay true to our roots and run the football.\’\’

In addition to Bell and the young offensive line, the Steelers also brought in offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. to replace Sean Kugler, who left to be the head coach at his alma mater, Texas-El Paso. Bicknell is expected to use more outside zone in 2013 and the team has worked on that extensively during the first few days of training camp practice.

In order to run more outside zone effectively, it will require athletic linemen that can bend and move. Head coach Mike Tomlin told Corbett the obvious in regard to his front five.

“We have a young, talented offensive line group and we\’re going to play to their strengths,\’\’ Tomlin said.

Those strengths that Tomlin speaks of certainly doesn\’t include pass protection, at least not yet. Now that the team has both David DeCastro and Mike Adams back fully healthy, they will use their ability to move out in space in their running attack.

Offensive coordinator Todd Haley also gave his thoughts about using more outside zone in 2013 as opposed to the man and inside zone that was mostly used in 2012.

“You have to be able to excel at that blocking scheme in today\’s NFL,\’\’ Haley told Corbett. “Last year, everything had to be perfect for us to gain four yards on a running play.”

Four yards per carry? Last season the Steelers running backs and fullbacks were only able to accomplish that 146 times on 371 attempts. They will need to improve that percentage in 2013 if they are going to win more than eight games and appear fully committed to doing just that.

Yes we will be running the ball more because we have the horses in the backfield to do so and a young and athletic o-line in front of them running this new ZBS to get the job done! That’s the 1st thing you always want to accomplish so you can open up the passing game and take pressure off Big Ben. Our 26th ranked rushing attack has nowhere to go but up! Wouldn’t mind us returning to the Bettis days of grinding out yards and eating up the clock so we can keep the opposing QB on the sidelines.

chris ward

Plaxico is right Steelers need to get back to their roots. By controlling the line of scrimmage and having a strong running game. Having a better run game is crucial for the Steelers to get back to the postseason.

Shea Fahr

I think he means there will be a lot more people running after the catch as well. Short passes, Wheel Routes, Bubbles, screens ect…If we run the ball EFFECTIVELY in order to set up Play Action, then we have no need to run it more….Effective and More should probably never be confused.

Dom

Bang on, You don’t run for the sake of it, you run to open up the passing game.

ATL96STEELER

The run stats are poor as Dave has pointed out, but imo the biggest disappointments LY was they could not run it in short yardage, and they couldn’t run it in the RZ…putting all the pressure on Ben.

Yea, run success in between the 20s will setup playaction, etc. but if you can run it when teams know you want to run it, and in the RZ, playaction can get you 6 more times than not.